* Three errors led to three unearned runs for Reading, as the Senators' losing streak hit a season-high five games and the Fightin Phils finished off a three-game sweep at Metro Bank Park on City Island.

* The start of the game was delayed 1:24 by a storm that passed through the region. There was an announced crowd of 2,863, one of whom won $5,000 in a raffle after the seventh inning.

* Trevor Holder made the spot start -- his first start of the season -- and yielded his first two earned runs this season in four innings of work. He also allowed two unearned runs, as he walked one, hit another batter and allowed five hits. Holder (0-1), though, retired the final seven batters he faced.

* Making a spot start for Reading was RHP Hector Neris (2-0), who worked five quality innings. His only black mark came when Jerad Head and Justin Bloxom ripped back-to-back home runs off him to lead off the fourth.

* The Fightin Phils never trailed, through their 4-0 lead had slipped to 5-4 after a two-run triple by Ricky Hague in the sixth. The next better, pinch hitter Francisco Soriano, appeared to have a game-tying hit on a bouncer down the third-base line, but third-base umpire Joe Born ruled it foul despite the ball seeming to hit chalk behind him. Third-base coach Eric Fox quickly argued and was ejected for pointing out the spot on the line where he presumably thought the ball hit, and an emotionally charged Matt LeCroy stormed out of the dugout to join the argument. LeCroy, the manager, was also ejected by Born. Soriano eventually grounded out to shortstop, and the tying run never crossed.

* The errors -- a fielding error by 2B Hague in the first, a throwing error by SS Josh Johnson in the second, and a throwing error by 3B Bloxom in the seventh -- each led to separate unearned runs. There was also a costly pickoff of Brian Goodwin at second base in the fifth inning, and Sandy Leon was doubled off after a misplayed infield fly rule in the eighth. Add it all together, and LeCroy called a post-game team meeting to address the sloppiness and mental mistakes that have plagued this team during the five-game skid.

* The Senators are off Thursday -- and LeCroy said he's giving his team the full day off to get away from the game and get their heads right -- before heading to Bowie, Md., Friday to begin a seven-game road trip.

* Albert Cartwright, Jim Murphy and Derrick Mitchell had two hits each to pace the Reading offense, while lefty Jay Johnson worked a perfect ninth to collar his first save.

* Marcos Frias (two runs, one earned, in two innings), Michael Broadway (one unearned run in two innings) and Aaron Barrett (one inning) worked quality relief for Harrisburg. Barrett struck out all three batters he faced in the ninth.

* LeCroy addressed the injuries to OF Steven Souza Jr. and RHP Rob Wort, both on the disabled list. He said both (Souza shoulder, Wort arm) are still out for the foreseeable future, and he doesn't have a timetable in mind for either's return. He expressed that the Nationals are being cautious with both players.

LECROY'S WORDS

* ON THE LACK OF MENTAL PREPARATION: "To me the beginning of the ballgame, it didn't feel like they were ready, and it bit them, and it bit us. Learning, you know. If you don't come ready to play, you're going to get embarrassed.

"This is big-boy baseball. You're one step away from the big leagues, and if you're not up to it you'll get exposed. If you're not ready to prepare, you're gonna get left behind. My message is you have to be ready the first pitch of the ballgame.

"Whatever you have to do to get ready -- and it was a unique circumstance with the [celebrity] softball game, and we couldn't do any pre-game, but we got work done -- but it's not really the physical part, it's the mental part. After the delay you have to go out there and get your body ready and mentally prepared for the first pitch, and we weren't, and they beat us. We battled and all that, but if you don't come ready the first inning, you're going to get beat."